i remember reading that in order for Yao to come and play in the NBA, he had to pay half his salary to China. did that include his NBA salary alone or combined with his endorsements also? and now that he doesn't have anymore commitments with the China national team, does this mean he gets to keep all that he earns? just curious.
I would think he is somehow obligated to hand over half of his "Income" , regardless of Basketball related or endorsements. I would have a hard time believing red china would take anything less. As to his comittments for the chinese national team I read somewhere that the Asian Games are in Malaysia this year. I am almost positive the asian games are in 2006. The ABC ( asian Basketball Championships) maybe this year. The ABC's are considered the 2nd premier tournament to the asian games.
I think it's funny when people act like it's so absurd he has to give half his money to china. Our taxes here amount to what? 40% of our money? Is an extra 10% really such an outrage?
So does this mean that USA takes ~40% of his money, add to that China takes 50%.. that leaves Yao with 10%
Yao pays 40% of his NBA salary to the IRS, then he pays half of what is left to the Chinese government/basketball league/whatever. Only the IRS gets a cut to his commercial salaries. I have no idea why people consider this such an outrage. Y'all do know that US citizens are required to pay taxes on money they made abroad too right? Although most people avoid this by not declaring taxable income overseas, Yao has too much spotlight on him to do the same. In fact, he's already getting a huge break on his commercial/ad salaries, which dwarves his NBA salary and which he isn't paying taxes/compensation/whatever on to China.
There really are no clear answers on this issue. According to Yao's autobiography, it sounded like the payment was your typical buyout to the basketball federation. Same as you would have with a lot of European players that are under contract. The only difference was that the amount was a lot more than your typical buyout. As the story goes, the Chinese Basketball Association gave Yao a figure on a piece of paper, and it was a unfathomable amount for him to pay. Whether this amount was $8 million or $80 million, the book didn't really say. But it made no mention that they would be taking money out of his endorsement money, just his contract. On the flip side of that, I find it hard to believe that the Chinese government isn't taking some taxes out of the rest of Yao's income. And the US government is surely getting their cut too. But probably not 40% of everything. The US government will be taking 40% out of Yao's salary as a basketball player, but I'm sure that his agents/managment team know all the tax tricks to keep as much of his endorsement income to himself. I'm no tax expert, but I do know that a lot of people set up companies to take in their money because it gets taxed less than an individual's salary. They do that with movie producers all the time. So are there the same tax tricks in China? I would think so. Maybe there are still restrictions on criticizing the government and other expression freedoms. But by all accounts the financial controls have loosened. I mean there are rich people in China, and they're not all government officials (isn't that just a cliche), so they must be doing something to hold onto their money. I guess the bottom line that I'm saying is that Yao's not going to be in the poor house anytime soon.
What I heard the last time was that the government took the money from the league (about $330,000) and Yao followed a rule that he gave half of his salary to his Shanghai club. His endosement has nothing to do with his committment to Chinese government and his Shanghai club. He does have to pay the taxes to the either US government or the Chinese governemnt depending upon where the money is earned. He is a rich man. Don't worry about how much he pays the US or China.
you can rest assured that thought doesn't keep me up at night. i was just curious about his contract, not how much money he made.
Excuse me, but are we talking China as "People's republic of China", you know, the country seconded in foreign reserves (less HK and Taiwan which is fourth and fifth) at about 18zillion dollars? Seriously, Yao could own Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Macdonald at the same time and his "tax money" towards China wouldn't mean a dime, a few of you sounded if China depends on Yao to make money for the homeland, so I'm just a bit confused. Otherwise, as most of you pointed out, Yao is rich and living a comfortable life in China and U.S, not to worry.
1. it's not half, its 30%, don't know why people continue to say half, this was cleared up ages ago. 2. it's only his salary, endorsements are not included. 3. but when yao goes back to china, they beat him with bamboo sticks and he has to work off his time in the steel mill. They also steal his first born child because they are foreigners.
Well, that explains it. I thought he always played poorly when he came back - the bamboo sticks would knock me for a loop too.
I don't think anyone thinks China depends on Yao's chump change to make money, they are (along with Japan and Saudi Arabia) afterall the countries that we are living off pretty much through borrowing. They are paying for our way of life, so there is not much to complain about.
Haha, whats his "contract" with China. That's like saying what's T-Macs contract with the United States of America. If he's ok with it, that's cool. I think Yao and his kids and his kids kids kids kids will be fine and living comfortably. I respect his patriotism, it's kind of refreshing.
China tax law only requires to pay tax if the income is generated in China. Thus, all Yao's commerical income in China through endorsement are subjected to Tax but not the US income. US tax also have a foreigh tax credit thus whatever you paid already in a foreigh conutry will be credit againist the tax that you owe if the money has been transferred to a US account. The CBA did ask for 50% for the contract initially, but they negotiate down for a much less extent.
sorry for the vague title. i meant to inquire about Yao's contract with the CBA. it was a fortunate accident, however, because some of you brought up interesting related issues. thanks to all who answered my question and didn't go off on some wild tangent about money.
It seems that a lot of people here still have this antiquated idea vision of a "Red China". If you factor in sales taxes, income taxes, etc - Yao is probably giving close to half of his income to Uncle Sam - which is a lot less than he's giving to Chairman Mao. I do know that my father does a lot of business in China and has expressed his opinion of the relative ease to establish a business there as opposed to here. "Communist" China will probably be the last bastion of capitalism on this planet one day - and they buy a huge chunk of Uncle Sam's T-bills so be easy on them.
